Republican Donald Trump will hold a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, followed closely by Kamala Harris taking a bus tour through the crucial battleground state ahead of her big moment at the Democratic National Convention. Trump's rally in the small town of Wilkes-Barre will give him a chance to take the spotlight off the vice president, who has enjoyed a whirlwind entry into the race since her boss President Joe Biden abruptly pulled out on July 21. Trump will highlight his dark vision of a failing America, which he blames in increasingly drastic terms on Harris.
"Hard-working Americans are suffering because of the Harris-Biden administration's dangerously liberal policies," his campaign said ahead of the rally. "Prices are excruciatingly high, cost of living has soared, crime has skyrocketed, and illegal immigrants are pouring into our country," it said, although a recent crackdown on the Mexico border has stemmed much of the flow of undocumented workers and asylum seekers. The campaign also insisted that "in Kamala Harris's America, crime runs rampant" -- even if statistics show that violent crime has dropped sharply.
Trump will take the same message to another small Pennsylvania town, York, on Monday. With polls showing the head-to-head race against Harris very close, it's the swing states -- especially Pennsylvania -- that will decide the final result in the US electoral college system. Trump lost the state by a narrow margin against Biden in 2020 but has strong suppor.